In 1959, toy entrepreneur Ruth Handel changed her life forever. Her new product, a doll named after her Daughter Barbara, would become one of the biggest toy franchises in history. Despite the criticisms and its problems, a recent Oscar-winning movie adaptation has won over a whole new generation of fans that guarantees this toy is going nowhere. So in this episode, I want to know… how is Barbie still relevant? Special Guests: Jon Mitchell, an Associate Professor of American Studies at the University of East Anglia. He is interested in late 20th Century US culture, with a particular interest in the representation of gender and sexuality. Vaughn Joy, a PhD candidate at UCL researching mid-century Hollywood, politics, and their cross-section through a case study on Christmas films. Welcome back to the podcast Vaughn.. Highlights from this episode: (02:03) Did you ever own a Barbie doll? (04:10) Right place, right time (10:14) Entirely unrealistic proportions (13:40) Are we just seeing really good advertising? (18:58) People will always find a reason to criticise a woman's body, and Barbie is no different (22:45) Ken discovers patriarchy (27:36) The Barbie brand has been building to this (32:11) Barbenheimer and the Oscars (37:36) New perspectives on Barbie (40:28) We superimpose our expectations of women on toys Additional Resources: WEBSITE: Official Barbie store from Mattel WIKIPEDIA: List of all Barbie films ARTICLE: How the “Barbie” Movie Explains the Psychology of Patriarchy by Wendy Jones ESSAY: Butch Barbie by Clara Bradbury-Rance And if you like this episode, you’ll also love: Are the Oscars Still Relevant? How Historically Accurate is Forrest Gump? ----------- Thank you for listening to our podcast. It's a labor of love by an American history nerd and his former lecturers at the University of East Anglia, but making it does come at a small cost so if you can spare some change, please check out our Patreon page. You can also follow Liam's slightly unhinged companion content over on TikTok Supporters of the show get awesome additional bonus content, access to private community forums, and exclusive invites to the virtual audience on every recording. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices